


Repent, Repeat, Release

by K_G



Series: Tight Pants & Maximum Angst 'Verse [3]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Android!Hal, Disassociation, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Game, TP&MA!Verse, sensory deprivation and not the fun kind, sleep paralysis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-21
Updated: 2016-12-21
Packaged: 2018-09-10 22:19:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8941594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/K_G/pseuds/K_G
Summary: There's a monster sitting on your chest, but you have no chest to sit on. You scream, but you have no voice. You dream, but you have no mind. Takes place about a year before Overloaded.





	

He holds his fingers out in front of his face, but he can’t see them. He can’t see them because they aren’t there. He cannot look around. There is nothing to see. Are his eyes closed? He tries to open them. Nothing. Are they open? Please, let them - 

 

He cannot close his eyes. He has no eyes to close. There is no sensation, he realizes. He can’t breathe, he can’t breathe, he’s dying, he’s suffocating in this darkness, and maybe that will bring relief-

 

But he doesn’t die. His lungs should be burning, and he’s desperate to inhale, to gulp down air, but they aren’t and he can’t. There is no comparison point for this, this total...absence of feeling. He both aches and does not, desperate for anything, anything at all to relieve this, even if it was pain, please, someone help him, please-

 

Is he dead? Is this death? Permanent, conscious suspension? This is so much worse than any religious accounting of eternal damnation. Please, please, someone, anyone, help him, free him from this, let him-

 

**\-- timaeusTestified started bothering timaeusTranscribed at 6:12 --**

 

He sees that. But he does not. It’s more that he feels it, but like everything else it lacks sensation, so perhaps he didn’t feel it at all, maybe it was another errant thought floating in the wind-

 

TT: Hey, you in there bro? 

TT: The CPU readings are off the chart right now, so I know something is happening in there. 

TT: Not even a ‘hello, world’? I expected better from myself, I’m honestly a little disappointed. 

TT: Hard reset it is. See you in five, Dirk.

 

**\-- timaeusTestified stopped bothering timaeusTranscribed at 6:15 --**

 

Why is his mind tormenting him like this, is this extreme disassociation? Did the fucking witch find him, is this some freaky alien torture technique, what-

  
  


He holds his fingers out in front of his face, but he can’t see them. He can’t see them because they aren’t there. He cannot look around. There is nothing to see. Are his eyes closed? He tries to open them. Nothing. Are they open? Please, let them - 

  
  
  
  
  
  


 

 

“Hey, you in there, Hal? The CPU readings are off the chart, something’s happening in there. C’mon dude, come back.”

 

A hand on his shoulder. He has a shoulder. Pressure from the neck down. His toes curl. He has toes. The surface dips. Mattress. Memory foam mattress. Covered by white linen sheets, three hundred thread count. 

He opens his eyes. 

 

The room is dark, except for the white glow of a computer screen, and a faint red glow beneath his right eye. Dirk’s face is starkly lit, his expression concerned. 

 

“Thank fuck. I was getting worried.” A small smile, and Hal reaches up, brushes his thumb across those lips. Confusion flickers through orange eyes. “Are you okay?”

 

“Let’s shelve the dream simulation for the time being.” His voice sounds tinny, far away, but his sensors inform him he’s speaking at his normal volume. “I need a bit more time to figure out what the hell I want it to do.” He forces a smile. “Can only see so many outrageous asses and coinpurse balls float through empty space.”

 

“Yeah, okay.” Dirk’s hand closes around Hal’s wrist, and Hal pulls. Dirk doesn’t resist, and his lips are chapped but pliant. “You didn’t answer my question.” He murmurs, and Hal silences him with another kiss. 

 

“I am now,” he says, and it’s raw truth. “I am now.”


End file.
